The present invention relates generally to photonic devices and methods for the same.
The use of photonic components such as type III-V semiconductor compound photonic components in photonic devices and Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) is desirable. Such circuits may be monolithic in nature. Monolithic integration of photonic components on a single chip may present advantages over discrete devices in fiber optic communications and other applications.
Many processes are conventionally used in manufacturing such components, devices and PICs, such as epitaxial growth, etching and photolithography for example. Due to a number of well known factors, such processes typically lead to less than optimum production yields. That is, a certain percentage of components are expected not to operate as intended. As devices and PICs become more complex and include a greater number of photonic components, the percentage of defective devices and PICs likewise increases. This is believed to have the undesirable effect of driving up costs associated with photonic devices and PICs. In other words, when a multitude of photonic components are integrated into a single device or PIC, the compound yield of the device or PIC will be the product of that of photonic components used for the device or PIC. As the yield of individual components decreases, the compound yield of the device or PIC is believed to quickly decrease with the total number of components incorporated.
A testing structure formed on a photonic integrated circuit including a plurality of first photonic components and having a desired functionality corresponding to a given interconnectivity of the first photonic components, the testing structure including: at least one second photonic component being suitable for testing at least one of the first photonic components; and, at least one photonic pathway optically coupling the at least one first photonic component to the at least one second photonic component; wherein, the at least one photonic pathway is unique from the given interconnectivity.